The following description in this Background section includes information that may be useful in understanding the present invention. It is not an admission that any such information is prior art, or relevant, to the presently claimed inventions, or that any publication specifically or implicitly referenced is prior art.
The use of dietary supplements has been a cultural phenomenon for many years. Body builders, runners, gymnast, swimmers, athletes of all sorts including professional sportsman and women have commonly taken dietary supplements to increase physical size and abilities at performing in their chosen sports activities.
However, it has only been in the recent past that sportsmen and women alike have seriously adopted dietary programs as a health conscious and consistent lifestyle wherein they practice regimented dietary routines that include not only a healthy lifestyle, and exercising and eating healthy food, but also taking a multiplicity of dietary supplements to keep their physical status toned at peak performance.
With the knowledge of the benefit of dietary supplements and the many ways in which they affect the body, a field of sports medicine relating to the use and effect of dietary supplements has developed such that knowledgeable sports enthusiasts have learned to self-administer dietary supplement products of all sorts for all reasons. For example, an athlete may take a particular series of supplements during hard workout periods and completely change the type of supplement during low stress periods. Alternatively, if an athlete experiences a minor injury or sickness, he/she will specifically alter their supplement routine to accommodate the present perceived nutritional needs for that particular health challenge. With many supplement routines today, the amounts of the various substances to be used has evolved to taking supplements that are precisely measured and dispensed like a medical prescription program proscribed by a doctor.
With the constantly varying landscape of which supplement is on the menu for the day or week, supplement users have experienced a need for ways to organize the products used in their dietary regimens. Since the world of supplements comprises such things as pills, powders, liquids, solid foods such as candy bar-like nutrition bars, etc., athletes have had to maintain each kind of supplement in different places and containers. For example, the pills, which often include a plurality of pills to be taken over a period of hours, would have to be kept in a pill box of some sort while powders such as protein powders have had to be dispensed from large containers and mixed with water, and liquid form supplements have had to be kept in yet a different carrier, typically the manufacturer's packaging for premade protein and the like drinks. Further, currently the only easy options for supplement enthusiasts are to fill a zip-lock bags with protein and meal replacement powders according to the number and size of servings needed per day. Where multiple servings are required the body builder will have to place the baggies in plastic ware containers. Pill form supplements still must be kept in separate pill boxes. This multiple component situation to taking supplements has resulted in the athlete having to jostle around with the varying resources and subsequent difficulty maintaining carrying through with their supplement programs.
Thus, there is substantial need in the arts for methods and devices for organizing and maintaining supplements and for improving the organization and measurement of the dosages required in a supplement routine. The present invention has industrial applicability in that it provides for measurement of the amount of supplements to be administered and maintains said supplements in a single device in a safe and uncontaminated environment and capable of containing a variety of supplement products including pills, powders and liquids and capable of locking or unlocking container tops on demand.